Xerox fights brand misuse, aims to diversify

Harsimran Singh, TNNJun 3, 2008, 03.25am IST

NEW DELHI: Some images and names stick like glue. Like the ageing Hindi movie heroine. Or Thermos. Or Xerox.

Till the going's good, no one really minds. However, every brand hits stereotype saturation. Better still, it guards against blatant liberties being taken with the language: the lines separating the nouns from the verbs can't blur too often.

Thus, a Google and a Xerox may have become generic terms for web searches and photocopying, but not every copycat has nine lives on a shelf.

Companies who want to diversify into other businesses keeping the same branding find the brand-turned-verb paradigm annoying.

Firms like the Xerox Corporation sought legal aid in India to guard against brand infringement by jobbers and 'xeroxing' businesses — the ubiquitous photocopying kiosks, for instance, which use 'xerox' as part of their own names.

Incidentally, many of these firms are customers of the Rochester-headquartered $17.2 billion giant, but have been using the word 'xerox' in their trademarks for many years.

"In the past 18 months, we have taken up 150 cases where Brand Xerox was being severely compromised. We have reached an out-of-court settlement with many firms. To avoid future use of our brand in any other company's name, a permanent watch is kept on the trademark filings at the Indian Trademarks Office to prevent the use of names with Xerox or Xeroxing," Andrew Home, Xerox India's managing director, toldET.

The company undertook a major exercise this January, unveiling a new logo and brand identity.